Injuries Ruined Eagles Play on the Confed Cup - Keshi

Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, was a sober figure after the team lost 3-0 to Spain in its last group game on Sunday and thus crashed out of the ongoing Confederations Cup holding in Brazil and has already started a post mortem.

Team’s Media Officer Ben Alaiya, quotes Keshi as saying despite his bold face on injuries to some of his key players, it turned out that injuries actually decimated the performance of the team at the tournament.

“I can’t imagine that my top striker Emmanuel Emenike will miss some of the goals that we missed and even Ogenyi Onazi was sorely missed, Victor Moses would have ruined any team here and, of course, several other players that should have been here could not make it due to injuries. Among them United States based Bright Dike.

Keshi then declared that he knows exactly what to do while appealing to Nigerians to forgive the team for the less than average performance at the tournament. He promised that the team will come good in the World Cup qualifiers. “We want to come back here next year and make an impact.

This is a dress rehearsal and I can assure that the Super Eagles will be among the top nations when the Brazil 2014 World Cup starts”, he said.

Keshi also revealed that he has fresh options for the national team when the team resumes for the final World Cup qualifier match against Malawi in September.

On his next move, Keshi says he is ready to qualify Nigeria for the first time for the African Nations championships meant for players playing in the local leagues of countries in Africa (CHAN). “We would go back home take a few days rest and prepare for our CHAN qualifiers against Cote d’Ivoire in the coming days and hopefully we should be able to make it through”, he said.